Our Man in Japan - wrapup

We had another successful event at An Die Musik, the other night. ANALOG arts ensemble was pleased to feature the works of member Jason Taylor, in from Japan.

This concert was a great example of the diversified capabilities of the ANALOG collective, as we were lucky to invite ANALOG member Jason Taylor in from Japan, Christina Carr in from NYC as well as several Baltimore local members.

Dariusz Skoraczewski (pictured above, rehearsing backstage before the show) performed George Crumb's Cello Sonata, that will be available on his new recording of solo-cello music. We had a group of very talented musicians to perform Morton Feldman's The Straits of Magellan, Toru Takemitsu's Toward the Sea II, and Frank Martin's Four Sonnets to Cassandra. Christina Carr reprized her work with Marcia Kämper from a very early ANALOG performance of the Sick Moon from Pierrot, and of course Jason Taylor both performed some guitar pieces and shared some of his newer and older compositions.

It was great to sit down with Jason before the concert and talk about his life in Japan, since he moved out there from Baltimore about 8 years ago. He is currently teaching English at what he says is the school famous for producing pro figure skaters and actors. A lot of times the kids ask him whether or not he saw them on TV the night before. He said that, on one of his first days in class, there was a student sleeping in the back of the room. The other school teachers told him to let him sleep - as he has a lot of work outside or school.

Jason started out as an "English Conversationalist" when he first moved out. He said it was common for special English-language schools to hire English speakers as "conversationalists." Jason described the experience as being in a small room, forced to make conversation the whole day long...

"How was your day today?" ... "That's nice, and how do you find the weather?" ... "What sort of food do you like to eat?" ...

At first he thought "This is the best job a guy could have!" "I get paid to converse!" After a short period of this - daily - he began to become sick of even his friends' conversations. If his buddies asked him a question he would quickly shush them or run the other way.

Jason is currently working on a series of guitar duo pieces that will be recorded and performed this coming December, and a String Quintet(string quartet and guitar) to be performed on Halloween. Look for more ANALOG concerts to include Jason Taylor in the future - both in Baltimore and Japan!

Be sure to watch for more ANALOG events!

Monument Trio and ANALOG

Fans of ANALOG know The Monument Piano Trio from several joint concerts, as well as their featured performances at last year's ARTSaha and Iron Composer composition competition.

There was a great article covering our joint concert last month in the Baltimore Sun:

"The Monument Piano Trio closed its season Sunday night at An die Musik with a bold 20th-century program.

Of particular interest was George Crumb's Vox Baelenae (Voice of the Whale), a 1971 work for amplified flute, cello and piano that blends a certain theatricality - the players are asked to wear masks - with subtle, mostly slow-moving, exotic washes of sound.

The challenging score was delivered with remarkable skill and sensitivity by cellist Dariusz Skoraczewski, pianist Michael Sheppard and the concert's guest artist, flutist Marcia Kamper.

Morton Feldman's Durations I from 1960 presents plenty of challenges, too. It's like a conversation between four people addressing four different topics in four different languages, yet somehow achieving coherence.

Kamper, Skoraczewski, Sheppard and violinist Igor Yuzefovich articulated the time-stopping music in telling fashion. Atmospheric duos by Arvo Part and Kajia Sarriaho filled out the fascinating evening.

The Monument Trio will be back in residence at An die Musik next season with a series of five concerts between September and May."

Feldman and ANALOG

ANALOG arts ensemble is pleased to be presenting a concert in Baltimore featuring "Our Man in Japan" guitarist and composer Jason Taylor.

We'll be playing some Feldman graph scores, among other things... stay tuned.

He Was A Visitor

He Was A Visitor began as a joint project between Baltimore performing musicians and visual artists from the Maryland Institute College of Art. ANALOG arts ensemble will present a program of selections from Stockhausen's From the Seven Days, Rudolf Kämper's Pulsating Stars Enable New Precise Determination of the Rotation of the Milky Way, as well as an audience participation version of Robert Ashley's She Was A Visitor. Visual artist Cody Griffith is our visitor in the ensemble. He will be working from the same descriptive score as the musicians to create an intuitive realization, not as an accompaniment but as another member of the ensemble.

Below is a short interview with the visual artist...

Cody: As someone who does not play an instrument, I will perform with visual media, keeping in my that my pen will be my instrument. It is difficult to translate Stockhausen's concepts into a language of imagery. Many questions have to be asked concerning the stability of this idea. I have practiced intuitive drawing before and will try to remain true to Stockhausen's ideas.

Dolf: Normally, when visual artists and musicians collaborate, an animator is given a tape and asked to interpret what they hear - or, a composer is given an existing film and asked to find music the compliment what they see. This time, you and the musicians are working from the same score. What are some of the ways you would interpret the score that are different than the musicians?

Cody: As a visual artist, upon hearing music, I create imagery in my mind. These images often begin in an abstract form and then move into the figurative.

Dolf: Have you been involved in improvised or intuitive drawing before? How about drawing/painting in public performance?

Cody: Warren Linn, a professor at Maryland Institute College of Art, worked with me on improvised drawing for years, whether it be from sound or a visual journalism. I have also done portrait work at community art festivals and painted public murals.

Dolf: You are also presenting some film for one of the pieces. What was your thought process in coming up with the material for that piece?

Cody: I look at Stan Brakhage a lot. I tried to focus on the silence and chaos of nature.

He Was A Visitor will be presented at Normal's Books as part of the RedRoom series, March 14, 8:30pm. See www.redroom.org for more info.

Baltimore's RedRoom

I finally had a chance to check out the very cool local hangout: RedRoom at Normal's Books and Music. I picked a good night too. Tim Kaiser of Make Magazine fame was there with his handmade electronic instruments.



Imagine a LIVE electronic music concert... one where there something to watch other than speakers. Tim's performance is part musical, part sculptural, and part conceptual. He will swirl tubes, twiddle knobs, wave his hands, and move his light wand to control the electronic noises.

Like any good Maker, Tim is proud and excited to explain each of his creations in detail after the performance. When I took a closer look at his toys, I was able to admire the incredible detail. I noticed that he even made a yellowed-with-age instruction manual for one of his stranger creations, encased in an oak box.

The trip was a lot of fun. Definitely a cool hangout for anyone in the Baltimore area!

Dolf Kamper